Autonomous vehicles are being introduced into an ever increasing number of facets of daily life in order to automate various tasks, such as cleaning a pool, cleaning an indoor space, and maintaining a lawn. Many of these autonomous vehicles and, in particular, submersible, autonomous vehicles, such as pool cleaners, utilize a propulsion element that is or includes an endless track/belt (also referred to as a tank tread, continuous track, or other such names) to drive or propel the autonomous vehicle along a supporting surface (e.g., the surface of a wall/floor of a pool).
Typically, an endless track belt operates by rotating around two rotating elements (e.g., drive wheels, gears, drive pulleys, etc.) disposed at opposite distal portions of the endless track. In order to engage these rotating elements, endless tracks often include internal teeth or other such spaced apart, internal elements. The teeth (or other such elements) engage and rotate about the rotating elements so that the rotating element can drive (e.g., rotate) the endless track belt. Binding and jamming may occur if the tracks on both sides of the autonomous vehicles are not perfectly synchronized for simultaneous rotation (or are too tightly coupled to the rotating elements). Such binding and jamming may impart unwanted forces to a motor driving the rotating elements, possibly causing the motor to overheat or otherwise malfunction. This issue has typically been solved by including gaps between the teeth (or other such elements) on the inside of the endless belt, which provide some play or looseness in the system.
Moreover, when endless tracks are used with submersible, autonomous vehicles, such as pool cleaners, the submersible, autonomous vehicles often experience gripping issues. For example, a submersible, autonomous vehicle may be unable to travel along angled surfaces of a pool, pool walls, and/or up and down stairs included in the pool. Unfortunately, often, a track cannot be modified or reconfigured to function adequately in different environments.
In view of at least the aforementioned issues, an endless track with continuous internal elements that engage drive pulleys while allowing for some slipping between the endless track and the drive pulleys is desirable. Moreover, an endless track that can be reconfigured or modified to allow a user to customize a track belt for different environments or surfaces is desirable.